Apple AirPlay is an increasingly common and popular wireless speaker standard used in everything from the iPhone-maker’s own-brand HomePods to third-party products from the likes of Sonos.
And there’s a good reason for this. Having reviewed AirPlay speakers since the tech was first unveiled, we can confirm it is one of the quickest and easiest ways to create multi-room setups if you’re embedded in Apple’s hardware ecosystem.
The sheer choice is great, but it’s also a two-edged sword for a couple of reasons. First, having AirPlay functionality does not guarantee the speaker will be any good. We’ve had plenty of speakers featuring AirPlay pass through our listening rooms that have failed to deliver in key areas, like audio quality.
You also want to be careful about what speaker you choose if you plan to add it to an existing system. Mis-pairing speakers can have a drastic impact on how they sound and work together even if they both have AirPlay. This is why we always recommend pairing speakers in the same family, like a Sonos One with a Sonos SL, or two Apple HomePod 2’s, if you want the best results.
To help you find the best AirPlay 2 speaker for your specific needs and budget we’ve created this guide detailing the top options we’ve tried and tested. Every speaker on this list has been thoroughly used by our team of experts in our listening rooms and the real world to ensure it’s worth your time and money.
How to choose the best AirPlay speaker for you
Why you can trust What Hi-Fi? Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.
Size and aesthetics aside, you need to know the perks of opting for a speaker with AirPlay baked in. Thanks to AirPlay 2, multi-room playback is on the menu – and it is not limited to Apple-branded products. There's also the promise of improved audio buffering and multiple control access across iOS devices to acknowledge (a useful touch for multi-room streaming).
If you're not quite ready to give up one technology for the other, you will be pleased to note that most AirPlay speakers also offer Bluetooth, so you won't miss out on any functionality. Plus, it means you can use the product with non-iOS source devices too.
If you want to keep your Apple Music experience entirely on brand, these are your best AirPlay speaker options. You may be surprised to see that the Apple HomePod isn't on this list. The reason? Oh it's nothing to do with performance. Despite its five-star rating (and the fact that it's a belter of an AirPlay smart speaker) in March 2021 Apple announced it was discontinuing it to focus its efforts on the HomePod Mini – which is absolutely on our list.
The HomePod 2 is the best AirPlay speaker made by Apple. It’s also one of the smartest you’ll find at this price in this list.
Testing the HomePod 2 we were amazed not just by how well it sounded, but also by how easy it is to set up. The clever trick it plays, that no other speaker on this list does, is to intelligently optimise its settings in real time depending on where it’s placed.
During our checks, we could hear the speaker adjusting its sound moving it from an open area to a location next to a wall in our listening rooms. The end result was brilliant.
SBTRKT’s Trials Of The Past in Apple Lossless is a track nearly every speaker this price struggles with. Despite this, the Apple HomePod 2 dealt with it admirably delivering crisp audio that was blissfully free of the sibilance we experience listening to it on many competing speakers. Switching to The 1 by Taylor Swift, our testers were immediately struck by the clarity and warmth of the vocals.
Siri support is also excellent, with the HomePod 2’s mics easily picking up our tester’s vocal commands even during tests with background noise.
Thanks to AirPlay 2 it’s also quick and easy to connect the HomePod 2 with another HomePod 2 in stereo, which we found worked great with Spatial Audio and Dolby Atoms content during our checks. This combined effect makes the HomePod 2 our current recommended AirPlay speaker.
Read our full Apple HomePod 2 review
While the Apple HomePod Mini (below) comes with all the company's signature technologies, if you want top quality sound from an AirPlay 2 speaker – and have the budget for it – the Naim Mu-so Qb 2nd Generation is well worth a look.
Capable of hi-res playback up to 24-bit/384kHz, the new Qb betters its predecessors performance with even greater clarity, precision timing and stunning dynamic range. We loved it so much we gave it a What Hi-Fi? Award in 2019, 2020 and 2021.
Read the full review: Naim Mu-so Qb 2nd Generation
The 2021 update (sensibly titled MkII) to the three-time Award-winning Audio Pro C10 (below) adds AirPlay 2 and Google Cast to complete a multi-room home run – and snaps up a What Hi-Fi? 2021 Award to boot.
When we tested its older sibling, we pitted it against models almost double its price and found it bettered them. We’re happy to report that it's still the case today – if £500 ($500) is your maximum budget, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a speaker that comes close to the Audio Pro C10 MkII.
We sort of miss the fun leather handle and the sonic presentation of the original, but we can't argue with three options for multi-room streaming (AirPlay 2, Google Chromecast and Audio Pro's own slick and functional app) or the levelled-up grippy bass and improved hi-fidelity performance.
Read the full review: Audio Pro Addon C10 MkII
For anyone looking for a do-it-all speaker system with AirPlay built-in, the KEF LSX II need to be on your shopping list. Not only do they look the part but they sound it too. Functionality and connectivity are excellent: besides AirPlay 2 you've also got USB-C and HDMI inputs to take advantage of plus high-res music playback. The whole set-up is controlled by KEF's impressive companion app.
If you have a smaller room or want speakers that will flank your desktop, the LSX II will happily oblige with a clear, musical sound. There's more than enough bass weight for average-sized rooms and the spread of sound you get from the Uni-Q driver array has to be heard to be believed. It's a talented package that has few, if any rivals at the money.
Read the full KEF LSX II review
Audio Pro currently makes some of the best wireless speakers on the market and the Addon C10 is another impressive Award-winning model – even if it has been superseded by the MkII above. Connectivity is among the most thorough you can expect at the money, with AirPlay joined by the option of wi-fi and Bluetooth, plus aux and RCA inputs. It has all the major music streaming services, including Spotify, Tidal and Qobuz.
The Addon C10 sounds big and bold, but is equally able to capture the subtler, more nuanced tracks as it is firing out big bassy numbers.
Read the full review: Audio Pro Addon C10
The market is full to bursting with portable Bluetooth speakers in the sub-£150 bracket, but not all of them have the JBL Link Portable’s neat features which include hands-free voice assistance, a charger cradle, wireless streaming via wi-fi and, most importantly, Apple AirPlay 2.
An IPX7 rating means it’s fully waterproof (to a depth of one metre, for up to 30 minutes) and, once USB-C-charged, you’ll get eight hours of wireless music out of it.
Soundwise, it has oodles of detail for a speaker of its size and an expansive mix with everything present, including bass. Provided you have a solid surface at home and you’re not looking to daisy-chain it with another JBL speaker, it has a lot going for it.
Read the full review: JBL Link Portable
The HomePod Mini really is bijou. At just 8.4cm tall and 9.8cm wide, it’s quite a bit smaller than the similarly spherical new Amazon Echo. In fact, it’s even dwarfed by the new Echo Dot. Get its swirling orb of coloured light up and running (when Siri is listening or processing) though, and you realise you've got a classy performer on your hands.
It goes loud, too. From the moment we start playing music, it’s clear that the HomePod Mini comfortably outperforms its size and price, quite frankly embarrassing its direct competition with the sophistication and maturity of its sound.
Siri is your voice assistant, and after a short period of learning it'll respond to the phrase “Hey Siri, play something I'll like” not by streaming your most played track of the last few weeks, but by playing something that you may have never listened to before but is a good fit for what you often do listen to. It’s a really powerful way to discover new music, and Alexa is nowhere near as good at it.
Read the full review: Apple HomePod Mini
The Series 3 is the best sounding AirPlay speaker there is. No doubt. It's also seriously, seriously expensive for a wireless box.
Part of that outlay goes towards Linn’s proprietary Exakt technology which aims to reduce phase errors by intentionally delaying higher frequencies so that they arrive at your ear at the same time as lower frequencies. It also keeps the music signal’s data in the digital domain for as long as possible to avoid any degradation caused by signal processing.
We’ve heard Exakt do its thing in many a Linn product before, and here again it contributes to an absorbing performance. What’s striking is the stunning midrange clarity and low-end agility which make the Series 3 a sharp performer and far more insightful than its more affordable competitors, too.
There's no Tidal Masters support but there is an HDMI ARC socket which allows you use the Series 3 for your TV sound.
Read the full review: Linn Series 3
Pricey, pricey but oh so good. The Wedge is the spiritual successor to the super-successful B&W Zeppelin but it's got so much more besides. Roon-ready, this elliptical multi-driver speaker is one of the company's Formation multi-room products and allows you to stream 24-bit/96 kHz hi-res audio through its tweeters, woofers and sub.
Sound-wise, it's obviously a treat. Vocals are textured and emotive, audio is detailed and distinguished and there's some great dynamism on offer. Not as authoritative at the bottom as the Mu-so below but it beats it for refinement and clarity.
Read the full review: Bowers & Wilkins Formation Wedge
Such is the breadth of choice when it comes to AirPlay speakers, you can spend under £100 or well over £1000. Take the Naim Mu-so-2. It's extensive feature set includes all manner of wireless streaming technologies such as AirPlay 2 and Chromecast. Streaming services like Tidal and Spotify are also supported as is high-res audio to the tune of 24-bit/88kHz. It's not just about streaming, though, with a HDMI ARC input allowing you to hook up a TV and boost its sound at the same time.
The Naim looks like a premium speaker and it sounds like one too, with a rich, confident sound, packed full of detail and delivered with immense rhythmic drive. Bass is plentiful and of a high quality. If your budget allows, you'll be suitable impressed.
Read the full review: Naim Mu-so 2
The second-generation Sonos One is really a Sonos Play:1 in new clothing, but that's no bad thing. It now boasts Amazon's Alexa smart assistant for voice controls, and it's all the better for it. In fact, with its room-filling sound, it stands apart from the glut of smart speakers that are smart first and speakers second. Throw in Apple's AirPlay 2 tech and the fact that the One fits seamlessly into a multi-room set-up, and you've got a winner on your hands.
Read the full review: Sonos One
The Audio Pro C3 sports the same minimalist look that the Scandinavian company is known for, with textured surfaces and embossed leather carry handle, but the wireless tech adds a whole new dimension to your listening. It's just a shame that controlling it using the smartphone app isn't a bit better thought through. Still, this is a belter of a speaker, complete with up to 15 hours of battery life, to make it a fine home or outdoor speaker.
Read the full review: Audio Pro Addon C3
Although we’re prepared to give it some good-natured ribbing for an aesthetic that abandons the trend of other Audio Pro speakers, the Drumfire is put together very well. The big bottom portion of the Drumfire houses a 20cm subwoofer powered by a 200W Class D amplifier to pump bass into the room. And you can hear it.
If you want a seriously powerful, seriously impressive sound, then look no further. You get plenty of volume and weight but don't be thinking this speaker can't also do subtle – it's a highly-accomplished wireless speaker, whatever you throw at it. Add in multi-room connectivity and the option to extend the Audio Pro family and you have an enticing, excellent high-end speaker.
Read the full review: Audio Pro Drumfire
How we test AirPlay speakers
The What Hi-Fi? team tests hundreds of products every year – and that includes AirPlay speakers. We have state-of-the-art testing facilities in London, Reading and Bath, UK, where our team of expert reviewers handles every step of the independent testing processes. This gives us complete control, ensuring consistency and impartiality.
Besides outright sound quality, we also test and evaluate every aspect of an AirPlay speaker's performance, including battery life, connection quality, ease of use, and versatility. It's very similar to the process involved in testing wireless speakers.
All wireless speakers are tested and reviewed in the context of their value on a performance-per-dollar basis, and as part of our testing procedure, wireless speakers are compared against similarly-priced class leaders to see how they perform and help us figure out an appropriate rating. Our review philosophy doesn't change based on price or brand reputation.
All products are tested in comparison with rivals in the same price category (often What Hi-Fi? Award-winners) and all review verdicts are agreed upon by the team as a whole rather than an individual reviewer, again helping to ensure neutrality and consistency.
Finally, we choose the culmination of our efforts – the best products from all of our in-depth reviews – to feature in our Best Buys, which is where you are now. If you take the plunge and buy one of the products recommended above, or on any other Best Buy page, you can be assured you're getting a What Hi-Fi? approved product.
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